Hilda’s Gone

Starved plants visible
in the windows
of Hilda’s house.

Hilda’s in
assisted living now.
It was the neghborhood roaming

in her thin housedress
that brought her family at last
into town from the suburbs.

They’ve moved her closer to them.
They sold her car.  Other cars
I’ve never seen before

are over there all the time.
A lot of stuff’s been carried out
and stashed in a silver van

or loaded into the big
silver pickup.  They come
and pack up and leave.

The leaf stems on her plants
look like threads now.
The stalks are drying; I’ll bet

they’re stiff and would break
if anyone touched them.  No one
seems to have touched them

for a long time.  That seems
a little evil in the middle
of so much urgent care.   

I used to shovel Hilda out
in the winter.  Each of us
took our turn at that.

But now there’s no car
to dig for, no Hilda here
to worry about.  

It’s going to be
a different winter
around here.